Mir Hamza's six-for spearheads Sindh's 127-run win

• Northern complete comfortable nine-wicket win over Central Punjab

• Southern Punjab and Balochistan match ends in a draw

Karachi, 3 December 2021: Northern recorded their first win of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2021-22 season as they thumped Central Punjab by nine wickets while table-toppers Sindh consolidated their position at the top with a 127-run win over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Southern Punjab and Balochistan meanwhile played a draw as the seventh-round matches concluded today in three Karachi venues.

At the UBL Sports Complex, Southern Punjab and Balochistan played out a draw. Resuming their second innings at the overnight 37 for no loss, Southern Punjab were bowled out for 311 in 78 overs.

Opener Tayyab Tahir top-scored with 86 off 183 balls (nine fours, one six). First innings centurion Yousuf Babar maintained his fine form in the second innings with 63 off 86 balls (12 fours). Left-arm-spinner Kashif Bhatti who scored a fifty in Balochistan’s first innings completed a fine all-round performance with a four-wicket haul with the ball, Akif Javed took three wickets for 41 runs.

Balochistan had reached 24 for no loss when stumps were drawn for the fourth and final time in the match.

Over at the State Bank of Pakistan Stadium in the match between Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which was live streamed on PCB’s YouTube channel, left-armer Mir Hamza’s stunning six-wicket haul helped Sindh register their second successive victory of the season as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were defeated by 127 runs.

Resuming their second innings at 13 for no loss (258-run target), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were rolled over for 130 runs shortly after lunch on the final day.

Hamza generated seam and swing and bowled a probing spell making regular inroads. Captain Iftikhar Ahmed (44 off 61 balls, seven fours) was KP’s top-scorer with Sahibzada Farhan contributing 39.

Hamza collected the 27^th five-wicket haul of his career, he was ably support by pacer Mohammad Hasnain who took two wickets.

Sindh who were on the backfoot after conceding a 120-run first innings lead have now further strengthened their position at the top of the six-team table by earning a total of 19 points from the match. KP settled with eight points based on their first innings supremacy.

Over at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex, Northern wrapped-up a comfortable nine-wicket win with-in the first hour on the fourth-day. Central Punjab were bowled out for 207 after resuming their first innings at the overnight 197 for nine. Off-spinner Mubasir Khan who recorded his maiden first-class five-for yesterday took the final wicket to finish with impressive figures of 24.2-8-43-6.

Northern lost opener Muhammad Huraira (6) but the pair of Zaid Alam and Rohail Nazir took the past the 20-run target.

Scores in brief:

Southern Punjab vs Balochistan, match drawn at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi

Southern Punjab 483 all out, 117.5 overs (Salman Ali Agha 135, Yousuf Babar 119 not out, Zeeshan Ashraf 102; Kashif Shehzad 3-63, Akif Javed 3-78) and 311 all out in 78 overs (Tayyab Tahir 86, Yousuf Babar 63; Kashif Bhatti 4-52, Akif Javed 3-41)

Balochistan 606 all out, 124 overs (Ayaz Tassawar 149, Bismillah Khan 125, Shan Masood 105, Kashif Bhatti 71; Hassan Khan 3-27, Aamer Yamin 2-63) and 24 for no loss, 5 overs.

Sindh beat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 127 runs at State Bank of Pakistan Stadium, Karachi

Sindh 145 all out, 42.1 overs (Asad Shafiq 31, Faraz Ali 31; Irfanullah Shah 5-43, Asif Afridi 3-16) and 377 all out, 124.1 overs (Khurram Manzoor 107, Saad Khan 89 not out, Asad Shafiq 83; Irfanullah Shah 4-51, Asif Afridi 3-112)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 265 for 9 (declared) 64.1 overs (Musadiq Ahmed 75, Asif Afridi 50, Iftikhar Ahmed 40; Sohail Khan 5-82, Mir Hamza 3-62) and 130 all out, 44.1 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 44, Sahibzada Farhan 39; Mir Hamza 6-33, Mohammad Hasnain 2-49)

Northern beat Central Punjab by nine wickets at National Bank of Pakistan Stadium, Karachi

Northern 445 for 8 (declared), 106 overs (Haider Ali 206, Faizan Riaz 67, Muhammad Huraira 54; Muhammad Ali 3-68) and 20 for 1, 7.3 overs.

Central Punjab 257 all out, 71.5 overs (Hussain Talat 51, Imran Dogar 43; Haris Rauf 6-47, Mubasir Khan 2-38) and 207 all out, 77.2 overs (Ali Zaryab 71, Imran Dogar 55; Mubasir Khan 6-43, Haris Rauf 3-62)

Points table: